Disseny i proposta d' implementació d'un model formatiu per a la iniciació professional i el mentoratge del professorat de secundària

En estudis anteriors al que ara us proposem i en diferents articles realitzats pels components d’aquest grup de recerca s’ha constatat que el professorat que ha d’atendre grups d’alumnes amb adaptacions curriculars, programes d’iniciació professional, alumnes amb difícil inclusió acadèmica i escolar que aquests docents haurien de rebre una formació psicopedagògica per adequar-se al trets característics dels alumnes i per aplicar una metodologia que desperti en els alumnes la il•lusió per seguir formant-se i les estratègies organitzatives i de planificació per fer un ensenyament de qualitat. El professorat ha d’adquirir una sèrie de competències que li permetin donar resposta a les necessitats dels alumnes. Estudis previs constaten que hi ha una gran necessitat pel que fa a les competències personals i participatives per sobre de les tècniques. Tot i que també és molt important apostar per les metodològiques. Aquesta formació l'haurà de rebre al llarg de la seva acció docent i està lliga amb el concepte Lifelong learning que es proposa arreu de la Unió Europea con un dret i una obligació per aconseguir la constant adequació a les demandes socials i a les necessitats personals, així com assolir la progressió professional i l’accés a noves etapes educatives:No hi ha dubte que una professió com la docent que requereix un domini competencial tan exigent desvetlla la curiositat per iniciar recerques i la necessitat d’esmerçar esforços per facilitar que tingui èxit la inserció dels nous professors i professores en l’entorn socioeducatiu durant el període llindar. Cal saber què passa, què ocupa i què preocupa a Europa en relació al professorat i a la seva formació, sobretot que cal desenvolupar en el període previ i com es facilita la transició des d’aquesta formació inicial per assolir una ràpida i eficaç inserció a la professió docent.   

Estimating Phillips Curves in Turbulent Times using the ECB’s Survey of Professional Forecasters

This paper uses forecasts from the European Central Bank's Survey of Professional Forecasters to investigate the relationship between inflation and inflation expectations in the euro area. We use theoretical structures based on the New Keynesian and Neoclassical Phillips curves to inform our empirical work. Given the relatively short data span of the Survey of Professional Forecasters and the need to control for many explanatory variables, we use dynamic model averaging in order to ensure a parsimonious econometric speci cation. We use both regression-based and VAR-based methods. We find no support for the backward looking behavior embedded in the Neo-classical Phillips curve. Much more support is found for the forward looking behavior of the New Keynesian Phillips curve, but most of this support is found after the beginning of the financial crisis.

The role of career adaptability and work conditions on general and professional well-being.

This study, conducted with a representative sample of employed and unemployed adults living in Switzerland (N = 2002), focuses on work conditions (in terms of professional insecurity and job demands), career adaptability, and professional and general well-being. Analyses of covariance highlighted that both unemployed and employed participants with low job insecurity reported higher scores on career adaptability and several dimensions (notably on control) than employed participants with high job insecurity. Moreover, structural equation modeling for employed participants showed that, independent of work conditions, adaptability resources were positively associated both with general and professional well-being. As expected professional outcomes were strongly related to job strain and professional insecurity, emphasizing the central role of the work environment. Finally, career adaptability partially mediated the relationship between job strain and professional insecurity, and the outcome well-being.

Natural Capital's perception by Kodagu communities: a comparative study (Karnataka, India)

When we ask ourselves about a concrete definition of “Natural Capital” we can find a large and wide range of conceptions, which are attached to it. These can turn out to be confusing and contradictory in some cases. In theory, through books and different studies we know natural resources are composed by all the natural actives originated by the nature itself. Besides, these conform a patrimony for society as them are translated into a path towards economy: The Natural Capital. May not the Natural Capital be an easy conception to put in terms of economy it turns out to be an important capacitor for economy growth in most countries. In any case, we can clearly distinguish two ways as Natural Capital can be seen. One may elaborate a definition about it by reading what others have previously written, those who usually are quite far from the direct use of natural resources. On the other hand it would also be interesting to conform a definition of it by asking people who are constantly in contact with natural resources and consequently contribute to form the Natural Capital.

Characterisation of microbial communities colonising the hyphal surfaces of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are symbiotic soil fungi that are intimately associated with the roots of the majority of land plants. They colonise the interior of the roots and the hyphae extend into the soil. It is well known that bacterial colonisation of the rhizosphere can be crucial for many pathogenic as well as symbiotic plant-microbe interactions. However, although bacteria colonising the extraradical AMF hyphae (the hyphosphere) might be equally important for AMF symbiosis, little is known regarding which bacterial species would colonise AMF hyphae. In this study, we investigated which bacterial communities might be associated with AMF hyphae. As bacterial-hyphal attachment is extremely difficult to study in situ, we designed a system to grow AMF hyphae of Glomus intraradices and Glomus proliferum and studied which bacteria separated from an agricultural soil specifically attach to the hyphae. Characterisation of attached and non-attached bacterial communities was performed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and clone library sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene fragments. For all experiments, the composition of hyphal attached bacterial communities was different from the non-attached communities, and was also different from bacterial communities that had attached to glass wool (a non-living substratum). Analysis of amplified 16S rRNA genes indicated that in particular bacteria from the family of Oxalobacteraceae were highly abundant on AMF hyphae, suggesting that they may have developed specific interactions with the fungi.

Le soignant face au patient lombalgique chronique: l'expérience clinique de l'Unité Rachis à l'Hôpital orthopédique [The health professional's approach to chronic lumbago: clinical experience at the Spinal Cord Unit at the orthopedic hospital]

The treatment of back pain patients refers to the biopsychosocial model of care. This model includes illness in patient's personal and relational life. In this context, it is not only the physical symptom of the patient which is focused but also his psychological distress often hidden by algic complain. Clinical interviews conducted with back pain patients have highlighted psychosocial aspects able to influence the relationship between health care user and provider. Taking account of psychosocial aspects implies an interdisciplinary approach that identify and assesses patients' needs through adequate tools. As a result, the different health care providers implied with back pain patients have to collaborate in a structured network.

Longer-term impacts of mentoring, educational services, and incentives to learn: evidence from a randomized trial in the United States

This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long-term educational and employment impacts of an afterschool program that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards with the objective to improve high-school graduation and postsecondary schooling enrollment. The short-term hefty beneficial average impacts quickly faded away. Heterogeneity matters. While encouraging results are found for younger youth, and when the program is implemented in relatively small communities of 9th graders; detrimental longlived outcomes are found for males, and when case managers are partially compensated by incentive payments and students receive more regular reminders of incentives.

Mentoring, educational services, and economic incentives longer-term evidence on risky behaviors from a randomized trial

This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long- term impacts of an afterschool program that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards to attend program activities, complete high-school and enroll in post-secondary education on youths' engagement in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, criminal activity, and teenage childbearing. Outcomes were measured at three different points in time, when youths were in their late-teens, and when they were in their early- and their latetwenties. Overall the program was unsuccessful at reducing risky behaviors. Heterogeneity matters in that perverse effects are concentrated among certain subgroups, such as males, older youths, and youths from sites where youths received higher amount of stipends. We claim that this evidence is consistent with different models of youths' behavioral response to economic incentives. In addition, beneficial effects found in those sites in which QOP youths represented a large fraction of the entering class of 9th graders provides hope for these type of programs when operated in small communities and supports the hypothesis of peer effects.

Acute respiratory infections in children living in two low income communities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Community studies of non-hospitalized children are essential to obtain a more thorough understanding of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and provide important information for public health authorities. This study identified a total ARI incidence rate (IR) of 4.5 per 100 child-weeks at risk and 0.78 for lower respiratory tract infections (LRI). Disease duration averaged less than one week and produced a total time ill with ARI of 5.8% and for LRI 1.2%. No clear seasonal variation was observed, the sex-specific IR showed a higher proportion of boys becoming ill with ARI and LRI and the peak age-specific IR occurred in infants of 6-11 months. Correlation with risk factors of the child (breastfeeding, vaccination, diarrheal disease, undernourishment) and the environment (crowding, living conditions, maternal age and education) showed marginal increases in the rate ratios, making it difficult to propose clear-cuts targets for action to lower the ARI and LRI morbidity. The importance of an integral maternal-child health care program and public education in the early recognition of LRI is discussed.

Detection of nandrolone metabolites in urine after a football game in professional and amateur players: a Bayesian comparison.

Nandrolone (19-nortestosterone) is a widely used anabolic steroid in sports where strength plays an essential role. Once nandrolone has been metabolised, two major metabolites are excreted in urine, 19-norandrosterone (NA) and 19-noretiocholanolone (NE). In 1997, in France, quite a few sportsmen had concentrations of 19-norandrosterone very close to the IOC cut off limit (2ng/ml). At that time, a debate took place about the capability of the human male body to produce by itself these metabolites without any intake of nandrolone or related compounds. The International Football Federation (FIFA) was very concerned with this problematic, especially because the World Cup was about to start in France. In this respect, a statistical study was held with all football players from the first and second divisions of the Swiss Football National League. All players gave a urine sample after effort and around 6% of them showed traces of 19-norandrosterone. These results were compared with amateur football players (control group) and around 6% of them had very small amounts of 19-norandrosterone and/or 19-noretiocholanolone in urine after effort, whereas none of them had detectable traces of one or the other metabolite before effort. The origin of these compounds in urine after a strenuous physical activity is still unknown, but three hypotheses can be put forward. First, an endogenous production of nandrolone metabolites takes place. Second, nandrolone metabolites are released from the fatty tissues after an intake of nandrolone, some related compounds or some contaminated nutritive supplements. Finally, the sportsmen may have taken something during or just before the football game.

Climate-based empirical models show biased predictions of butterfly communities along environmental gradients

A better understanding of the factors that mould ecological community structure is required to accurately predict community composition and to anticipate threats to ecosystems due to global changes. We tested how well stacked climate-based species distribution models (S-SDMs) could predict butterfly communities in a mountain region. It has been suggested that climate is the main force driving butterfly distribution and community structure in mountain environments, and that, as a consequence, climate-based S-SDMs should yield unbiased predictions. In contrast to this expectation, at lower altitudes, climate-based S-SDMs overpredicted butterfly species richness at sites with low plant species richness and underpredicted species richness at sites with high plant species richness. According to two indices of composition accuracy, the Sorensen index and a matching coefficient considering both absences and presences, S-SDMs were more accurate in plant-rich grasslands. Butterflies display strong and often specialised trophic interactions with plants. At lower altitudes, where land use is more intense, considering climate alone without accounting for land use influences on grassland plant richness leads to erroneous predictions of butterfly presences and absences. In contrast, at higher altitudes, where climate is the main force filtering communities, there were fewer differences between observed and predicted butterfly richness. At high altitudes, even if stochastic processes decrease the accuracy of predictions of presence, climate-based S-SDMs are able to better filter out butterfly species that are unable to cope with severe climatic conditions, providing more accurate predictions of absences. Our results suggest that predictions should account for plants in disturbed habitats at lower altitudes but that stochastic processes and heterogeneity at high altitudes may limit prediction success of climate-based S-SDMs.

Traduir la Terra Mitjana: la traducció de referents culturals i jocs de paraules en "El Senyor dels anells"

RESUM: En aquest treball de recerca s’han analitzat els referents culturals i els jocs de paraules que apareixen en l’obra El senyor dels anells. Com a reflexió inicial em baso en la hipòtesi que la caracterització de hòbbits, ents i homes, tres races que apareixen en la Terra Mitjana, el món secundari creat per Tolkien, es nodreix, a banda d’altres elements, de jocs de paraules i referents culturals britànics. És fonamental que aquesta afirmació sigui tinguda en compte en l’acte de traducció per respectar la intenció de J. R. R. Tolkien, que en aquesta obra buscava també la creació d’una mitologia britànica versemblant, com si de veritat la Terra Mitjana hagués constituït el passat real del nostre planeta amb els avantpassats britànics com a protagonistes. La composició d’aquest estudi es divideix en: (1) característiques de la literatura fantàstica; (2) aspectes relacionats amb l’autor des de dues vessants: l’una com a acadèmic i l’altra com a escriptor i creador; (3) teoria de la traducció de referents culturals i de jocs de paraules; i (4) corpus de 144 termes extrets del text de sortida analitzats i traduïts a partir de fitxes de traducció. Puc concloure que s’ha demostrat la hipòtesi que em plantejava: els referents culturals i els jocs de paraules són recursos actius en El senyor dels anells i una bona anàlisi d’aquests camps és pertinent per comprendre la magnitud de l’imaginari de J. R. R. Tolkien i realitzar una traducció respectuosa amb la intencionalitat de l’autor. El senyor dels anells és una fairy-story, una obra de fantasia, una fugida de la realitat consensuada (Tolkien no s’amaga d’aquesta fugida i la veu positiva) en què els elements propis del món primari (la cultura britànica i comunitats antigues com l’anglosaxona, la celta o l’escandinava) i del món secundari (els personatges que habiten la Terra Mitjana en el marc temporal de la Tercera Edat) funcionen d’acord amb els principis dels dos móns. Considero que el procés seguit tant en la metodologia, com en l’elaboració dels continguts, com en la traducció dels termes analitzats a través de les fitxes és positiu i útil. Aquesta sistematització del procés i el resultat final poden ser rellevants per a la comunitat traductora, tant per al futur traductor com per al professional.

HIA Forum, HIA: A tool to support healthier communities (September 2009)

The HIA Forum provides an opportunity for those with an interest in HIA to meet, share experiences, hear about new developments and consider how to progress HIA. 2009 HIA Forum events focused on how HIA can and is being used to support healthier communties.